Mats Hummels is reportedly going to consider offers in the summer as his future at Bayern Munich remains in the balance.
Bayern Munich have struggled defensively this season, letting in cheap goals on a consistent basis. Their defensive frailties have cost them many points in the Bundesliga and a place in the Champions League quarterfinals. Die Roten have decided to address this problem by confirming the arrivals of France internationals Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez in the summer.
These two defenders will provide much more solidity to the defense. However, their arrivals will also force Bayern to make decisions on the future of some veteran players. Namely, the Bavarians will have to decide what to do with Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng.
While the latter seems almost certain to leave Munich at the end of this campaign, there is much more speculation as to what will become of the former.
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According to Sport1, Mats Hummels is keeping all his options open for the summer as he knows his future at Bayern is uncertain. The German defender is open to playing in other top European leagues, but he has ruled out a return to Borussia Dortmund. This report also insists Hummels feels settled in Bavaria and enjoys a very good relationship with Niko Kovac. He doesn’t fear competition for places in the squad, but he needs a clear indication from the board about the plans for him next season.
Hummels re-joined Bayern Munich in 2016 after a fantastic seven year spell at Borussia Dortmund. The 2014 World Cup winner was a mainstay in the lineup under both Carlo Ancelotti and Jupp Heynckes. His performances were very good in both of the last two seasons, but he has struggled to cope with fast forwards and committed many uncharacteristic errors this campaign.
Kovac initially adapted a game-by-game rotation policy this season, leading to different center-back pairings for every game. Hummels initially supported this policy, despite it meaning he was played less in the first half of the season than either of his central defensive teammates.
The Croatian manager abandoned his rotation policy by December, though, and began to stick with a more consistent starting lineup — one that has featured Hummels more often than not. He has enjoyed a fruitful partnership with Niklas Sule ever since.
Bayern listened to offers for Boateng last summer as Paris Saint-Germain came very close to signing the 30-year-old. Die Roten will likely look to sell him this summer to balance their books. Hummels is still a solid defender on his day, but those days don’t come as often as they used to. Bayern might decide to keep him for one more season, as Hernandez will take time to adapt in Germany and recover from his knee surgery, but the long-term future of Hummels will likely be away from Bavaria.